Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Hansard source

‘The greatest environmental challenge of our time.’ Those were the words of John Howard on 25 January 2007 at the National Press Club, when he announced in these words: ‘The plan I have outlined today is detailed, it is costed, it has been in preparation for some time; it represents a fundamental response to the greatest environmental challenge of our time, and that is of water scarcity.’ Those words drive home the fact that the challenges we have in front of us have come forward through a sensible reform that was initiated by the member for Wentworth but is now trying to be spiked by the Leader of the Opposition.

In 2007 there was recognition up and down the basin of the dangers of overallocation. There was recognition up and down the basin that the environmental interests and the long-term interests of irrigators were aligned. Whether it is from the algal blooms running up and down the river systems or whether it is from the growth of acid sulphate soils, it was well understood that if you do not have a healthy river it is not just bad environmentally; it is unacceptable for irrigators and unacceptable for the towns and communities that rely on them. That is why decisions were taken for the first time with the support of each side of this House to make sure that we could move towards having a sustainable system in the Murray-Darling. That is why commitments were made to make sure that money was available for infrastructure, for buy-backs and for environmental works and measures and to make sure that Australia no longer continued mistakes that have been made for about 100 years, where one river system was being run as though the state boundaries made a difference to the health of the river system. That is why the former Prime Minister described this as ‘the greatest environmental challenge of our time’. And that is why the Leader of the Opposition is not going to get away with wanting to walk away from a commitment that the Murray-Darling Basin needs.

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